Warzone
by GuyYouMetOnline
Summary: After a sudden attack on several cities, trainer Kiera Sente finds herself leading survivors in a devestated Goldenrod. Why are Pokemon attacking cities? Why are they killing humans? And can Kiera's group survive long enough for the answers to matter?
1. Chapter 1: Running and Hiding

**Chapter 1  
**_Running and Hiding  
_

Kiera leaned cautiously out from the alleyway. _Looks clear._ "You sense anything, Espeon?" she whispered, turning to the Pokemon beside her. Espeon shook her head. "Good." She turned to the other Pokemon next to her. "All right, Sceptile, bring the others up."

Sceptile vanished back through the alleyway. She was soon back, a small group of humans following her. Around them were the other four members of Kiera's team: Gardevoir on point, Glaceon and Arcanine to either side, and Garchomp bringing up the rear. They'd been moving carefully through the streets of Goldenrod in this manner for a while now, and had almost reached their destination.

"Okay," Kiera said, "it looks clear. The bad news is that we'll be in the open the rest of the way, so we'll have to move quickly. It shouldn't take us more than a couple minutes, but it'll be the longest we've been exposed for. If we're seen, just keep moving and let me handle it. And you stay with them," she said to the four Pokemon surrounding the humans. "Espeon and Sceptile will stay with me." She leaned out again for one more look. _Okay, looks like we're good to go. Damn it, this is not how I wanted to be spending my birthday. 'Happy 25th! Now go run for your life!' Well, let's do this._ "Now!"

* * *

_(Incoming. Two of them.)_

Kiera turned to Espeon. "From where?"

_(Northeast of us.)_

_From behind us. Damn. Okay, they'll need to be dealt with._ She turned towards the group. "Okay, people, it looks like we've got some unwanted company coming. Like I said earlier, just keep moving. Go!"

Kiera turned around as the group continued on, only Espeon and Sceptile remaining with her. Before long, the approaching Pokemon came into view. _A pair of Marshtomp. Easy._ "Okay, Sceptile, this one's yours."

Sceptile nodded, stepping forward as the two Marshtomp noticed Kiera. They immediately charged.

_As expected,_ Kiera thought. _But why? There's no denying that they're deliberately hunting humans, but why? It's not savage instinct; that's clearly not what this is. They haven't lost their minds. This is deliberate. Planned. And judging by the fragments that came in before the power went out, it's not just Goldenrod. So they're coordinating, too. But why are they hunting and killing humans? What would cause them to go straight to 'kill everybody'?_

Sceptile made short work of the two Marshtomp. _Which is to be expected,_ Kiera thought as she, Sceptile, and Espeon started after the group._ They may be organized, but they aren't any stronger individually than they were before all of this. They still can't come close to matching well-trained Pokemon._ Which, Kiera knew, was the only reason there was any chance of surviving this. But even so, she knew that surviving on her own wouldn't be easy, so she was more than willing to stick with a group. _Although this one is a bit larger than I'd like. And too few of them looked to be trainers, although it did look like most of them had at least one or two Pokemon._ Which was pretty normal. A lot of people had one or two Pokemon. Without training, of course, they wouldn't do any better than wild Pokemon, but in a situation like this, anything was better than nothing. _Still a few more bug catchers than I'd like, though,_ she thought, using a common slang term. _But this group's what I have, so I guess I'll just have to deal with it._

Kiera had stumbled upon the group as she'd moved through the city, although it had been smaller at that time. It wasn't any organized group. They'd simply all run into each other, and had banded together in the hope that it would increase their chance of survival. Which was smart, but wouldn't have been enough on its own, as all of them were panicking to one degree or another. And although panicking was understandable, it still wasn't helpful. None of them were really able to think completely clearly, whereas Kiera was. So she'd found herself leading the group through the city, trying to find a place to hide out.

* * *

Kiera quickly caught up to the group, and they went the rest of the way without incident.

"Well, here we are," Kiera said as the group approached the building. The store, a SuperMart, looked to be in pretty good shape, and would be a good place to hide out. _Although whoever came up with that name is an idiot_.

Kiera led the group inside. _Running for our lives, staying out of sight, banding together in desperation, and now we're hiding out in the local big box store,_ she thought as she recalled her team. _I feel like I'm in a goddamn zombie movie._

She examined the group. "Okay, it looks like we're all here. Good. All right, we should be at least a little safer here, but I don't think there's anywhere in the city that's completely safe. Let's see here... you and you." She pointed at two who looked less shaky then the rest. _And who have several Pokemon on them._ "You're one pair. And you, you're with me. We need to sweep the place, make sure there aren't any surprises waiting for us. And we need to seal all the doors as best we can. Am I right to assume that all three of you are trainers?" They nodded. "Good. You two take the left side; we'll take the right. As for the rest of you... you. Are you a trainer, too?" Another nod. "All right, then. You take everyone over to the outdoor department. We'll set up camp there-and I guess that's where the camping gear is, so pardon the pun. Get everyone there and wait. Once the four of us get back, we'll see about food and other supplies. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "All right, then. Two more things. First, we may not be the only people hiding in here, and even if we are now, someone else may show up later. If anyone else is here, they'll probably be just as on edge as we are, so be careful. But try not to hurt them; any humans we see will be in the same situation as we are, so we should join together, not fight. And second, we're at risk even here, so nobody goes anywhere alone. Always move in pairs at the minimum. Do not go anywhere alone. Don't even step out of sight of your partner. I don't care if you need to take a piss, or what. Have another human with you at all times. Got it?" More nods. "Good. All right, then, let's get to work."

* * *

The sweep was uneventful. The store, as it turned out, was completely deserted apart from Kiera and the group. The two sweep teams had rejoined the main group, which was, as Kiera had instructed, in the outdoor department. In fact, they'd already gathered quite a bit of basic gear, and Kiera found herself amused by what all was there, especially the pair of tents. _I know I said we'd set up camp here, but I didn't think they'd take it literally. I mean, we're already inside. Although I suppose a big store is different than a small bedroom. And then there's the fact that there's a fair number of us, as opposed to one or maybe two people in a bedroom. Well, if sleeping in tents helps some of them, then they can go ahead. Although if they want them if or when we end up in the wilderness, I'll expect them to carry the things._

"Okay," Kiera said once the other pair had arrived, "I know you're all probably eager for a little rest, but we still have a little work to do. First, I want to repeat the 'never be alone'' thing, because it's important. I'm not exaggerating when I say never. Do not go anywhere without at least one other human with you. And make sure you're in sight of each other at all times. I don't even want you closing the stall door when you're on the toilet, okay? I know some of you probably won't like that, but deal with it. Privacy is secondary to safety.

"Now, we can stay here for the time being, but at some point, we may very well need to leave. And it's quite possible that we'll have to do so on a moment's notice. So we need to keep supplies packed and ready at all times. Would everyone with… at least a year's experience as a trainer step forward, please."

Three people stepped forward. Only two the ones Kiera had selected earlier stepped were among them; the other two, presumably, had been trainers for less than a year. _That makes four, including me. And we've got a total of eighteen people here. Okay, then, two groups of four and two groups of five. _"Okay," Kiera said, "I'll get everyone's names later, but I'd like the three of you two give me yours right now."

From left to right, the three identified themselves as Seth, Alicia, and Daniel. "Okay, you three" Kiera said, "here's how this is going to work. The four of us are the most experienced trainers here. I assume you've all spent extended periods in the wild."

Daniel and Alicia nodded, but Seth did not. "Kind of," he said. "I don't go off the established routes very much, but I've been in those areas for extended periods, yes."

"Good enough for current purposes," Kiera said. "The four of us are experienced wilderness travelers. We've got a good idea of how to properly supply one's self for such excursions. So here's the plan: we'll divide everyone into four groups, with one of us in each group. We'll go one group at a time on supply runs. Since we have experience, we'll be helping the others pack appropriately. I don't want anyone dictating what they pack; our job is just to make sure they get the necessary supplies. If someone wants to bring something else, it's probably okay, although you can forbid them to pack something if having it would provide absolutely no benefit. As well as anything that would be a real hindrance, of course. You know what to watch for, I'm sure. Any questions?"

"I'm not sure why we're splitting into groups," Alicia said. "Why can't we just go all at once?"

"A couple reasons," Kiera said. "First, I don't want the same person to be in charge for everyone. Different people pack differently. We all need the basics, but outside of that, there's room for variation, and if multiple people take turns leading supply runs, we'll have a greater variety, as one of us may grab something that another would pass over.

"There is, however, a more important reason. There may very well be times we'll need to split up. I want to have ready teams for us to split into. And this is a chance to start in on that. I intend to send out teams whenever I get the chance. I'll be shuffling people around, looking for the best combinations. Hopefully, we'll have good teams figured out by the time we need them.

"Okay, then. I'll take the first group. Seth, you'll go next, then Alicia, and then Daniel. There are eighteen of us in total, so we'll do two groups of four and two groups of five. Any preferences for your group size?" Nobody responded. "Okay, then. I'll take a group of five. The other group of five will be… yours, Alicia."

Kiera turned to the rest of the group. "Okay," she said, pointing, "I'll take you, you, you, and you. Everyone else, stay here. Okay, then, let's go."

* * *

The first step was to grab packs from the outdoor department, which, conveniently, was where they'd set up camp. Kiera got the names of her four-Kate, Serena, Brandon, and Abel-on the way over.

"Okay," Kiera said as she handed out packs to everyone, "here you go. They should be fully charged, but check the power levels anyways."

"Power levels?" Kate said. "These things take power?"

_Definitely a non-trainer, then,_ Kiera thought. _And it doesn't look like she even has just one Pokemon._ "Yes, they do," she said aloud. "These packs have compression fields. They're intended for use by trainers, who are likely to need more room than you can get with a non-compressed pack."

Kate seemed completely lost. "What are compression fields?"

_Seriously? _"Well, the name's pretty descriptive. They compress things into smaller spaces. It's the same thing Pokeballs use."

"I see."

"Okay, then," Kiera said, "bags on. Kate, to turn it on, just pull this out. Good. Okay, then check the power levels. Kate, just open this up to see the display. Good. You're fully charged." She checked her own as the others checked theirs. "Everyone full? Good."

"How long does the power last?" Kate asked

"Depends on the model," Kiera said, "but usually for quite a while. They're intended for trainers, remember. I grabbed particularly long-lasting ones; they'll be good for the better part of a year without recharging. Pokeballs are good for even longer-a smaller field needs exponentially less energy-so we won't need to worry about them. And we can get them all recharged at any Pokemon Center-in fact, balls are automatically recharged as part of the standard procedure, and you only need to hand them your pack to get that charged, as well."

"Assuming we can even find an intact Center," Abel said. "And for some reason, I don't think there is one around here. And who knows when we'll find one? We don't know how many other cities were hit."

"That's why I'm taking an extra," Kiera said as she grabbed another bag from the shelf. Since it was empty, it was easy enough to fit easily through the opening into Kiera's active bag, the most commonly encountered limitation to the size of objects placed in it. "Do the same if you want to. Just be sure you don't turn the second bag on," she told Kate.

"Why?"

"Stacked compression tends to produce some… interesting results. As a result, all compression-field devices have built-in safety features to prevent this from happening. Allow me to demonstrate." Kiera took one of her Pokeballs and moved to place it in her bag. But before she was able too, both objects reacted. A high-pitched alarm sounded from the bag, while the Pokeball automatically opened, releasing Glaceon. "No cause for alarm," she called out to the main group as the alarm ceased.

"See?" Kiera said as she recalled Glaceon and returned the ball to her belt. "The bag sounds an alarm, and an absolutely obnoxious one at that. Pokeballs, on the other hand, automatically open and release the Pokemon inside. This has the effect of shutting off its compression field; as a power-saving feature, the field turns off when there's no Pokemon in the ball."

"I see."

"All right, then," Kiera said. "We've got our packs. Let's get moving."

* * *

"We're back," Daniel said as he and his group, the last one, returned to what everyone had taken to calling 'the campsite'.

By now, Kiera had learned everyone's names. Seth's team had consisted of himself, Mara, Louis, and Jeremy. Alicia had led a group of Darren, Matthew, Tamara, and Semora, while Daniel had been in charge of Michelle and two Jacks, Jack Nelson and Jack Liener. And Michelle, Kiera noticed, looked a bit upset. "Any problems?" Kiera asked.

Daniel looked at Michelle. "Yes, actually. Michelle here doesn't seem to like your 'never alone' policy."

"I was using the bathroom!" Michelle said.

"And I told you we'd make a stop!

"You weren't going to let me have my privacy!"

"And he was right to say that." Kiera got to her feet and approached Michelle. She wasn't too surprised that it was Michelle causing problems. The woman has 'rich and spoiled' written all over her. By this point, Kiera had also gotten the Pokemon teams of all those who had Pokemon, so she knew that Michelle had only one Pokemon, a Delcatty, a favorite choice of wealthy women all over the world.

"Come with me for a minute, Michelle," Kiera said, taking her hand. She led her away from the group before turning to face her. "There. Now I won't be doing this in front of everyone. All right, then. So you wanted your privacy while in the bathroom, then."

"That's correct,' Michelle said.

"Well, too bad. I understand wanting your privacy, but safety takes priority."

"What, you think I'll be attacked in the restroom?"

"I'm not going to rule it out."

"Well, even if I am, I've got my Delcatty to protect me."

"Pokemon kept as pets generally don't do well in battle," Kiera said. "Unless you've trained yours for battle, it won't be able to do much."

"She's tougher than you seem to think. She could take on a wild Pokemon or two without a problem."

"And how many wild Pokemon are in this city?"

"Why? You think a group'll come after me?"

"At the moment," Kiera said," there isn't a single wild Pokemon in this city."

"Excuse me? They're all over the place! I mean, we're even here solely to hide from them!"

"Pokemon, yes. Wild, no."

Michelle clearly thought she was crazy. "What, now you're saying this is a trainer attack?"

"No. I simply think that an organized force isn't 'wild'. The attack on Goldenrod wasn't some rampaging horde. It was a planned-out attack. Hell, you know as well as I do that the first thing they hit was the power plants. And they took them all out at roughly the same time. That means they coordinated. And I'm not sure if you know this, but there were reports of attacks from other cities. Vermillion, Jubilife, and maybe others; those are the only two I know about. Reports that got cut off before our power went out, which makes me think they were following the same strategy. Oh, and the attacks all occurred at roughly the same time, so there was coordination over substantial distances, which makes me think there's some variety of centralized leadership. These Pokemon are not wild, and if you want to live through this, you need to realize that."

"Okay, um, sure. What does any of this have to do with the bathroom thing?"

"Nothing, directly. But you mentioned wild Pokemon, and you need to be aware that we're not dealing with 'wild' Pokemon. As for the bathroom thing, you obviously object to that. That's fine. If you have any objections to anything, feel free to let me know, unless of course we're in the middle of something. When we're fighting for our lives is a bad time to object to something. Aside from that, though, objecting is fine. Disobedience, however, is not acceptable. Object if you want to, but do what I say anyways. Understand?"

"So, what, I just let you order me around?"

"Actually," Kiera said, "you are quite welcome to choose not to do as I say. However, if you do make that choice, then you will no longer be a part of this group."

"What? You- you'd just abandon me?"

"No. It would be your choice, Michelle, not mine."

"And you think it's just okay to make everyone do everything you say?"

"Do you think I want this role? Do you think I want to be responsible for this entire group?"

"Do you?" Michelle asked.

"Fuck, no! But someone has to be the leader, and I seem to have that role. I don't fucking want it, okay? But someone has to do it, and I'm the only one of us who was still thinking clearly when we all came together. That's why I have the job, and since I do have it, I'm the one responsible for getting us through this. And if I'm going to do that, I need to know that people will do what I tell them to. If I don't have that, then there's no way we're going to live through this. So either you do what I say, or you leave."

There was a sustained pause. "Fine," Michelle said eventually. "But when you need to use the restroom, we'll see how you like having someone watching you."

_

* * *

_

Well,

Kiera thought as she and Michelle returned to the group, _I guess that wasn't too bad. That was really a bit too minor of an issue to have that particular exchange over, though. Although I guess that's better than her breaking the rules over something important and getting us all in trouble._

_But Michelle's not the only one there'll be issues with, is she? With a group like this, there's potential for all kinds of problems. Something'll fuck the group up eventually, and then we'll be in bad shape. And the enemy Pokemon are bad enough even without any of that to worry about._

_Damn it, how the hell are we going to survive this?_

**

* * *

**

Notes:

**Note 1: This story is not related to my previous story, Seal, in any way. Those who've read that one may recognize a few things, mostly details about how things work, but the actual stories are not related in any way.**

**Note 2: Any political, millitary, and/or legal systems that may or may not be mentioned arenot intended to resemble any real-life systems in any way, so please don't tell me I got something wrong**

**Note 3: I'd like to thank Sakura for the idea for the character of Eva, who I plan to introduce in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: Questions and Secrets

**Chapter 2  
**_Questions and Secrets_

"Um, I think I see something."

"Where?" Alicia asked.

Louis pointed to the west. "Over there."

Kiera had been sending groups outside to sweep the perimeter with a fairly high frequency. The odds of actually seeing something important were low, but Kiera, Alicia knew, had another reason. Regular sweeps did initially sound like a good idea, but there just weren't enough of them to maintain a proper watch on the perimeter. As it was, the odds of a sweep team seeing anything was low, even if there was in fact something to be seen. But Kiera sent sweep teams out anyways. She was evaluating various teams, seeing what worked and what didn't; it was another part of her plan to have good teams formed before any instance where splitting into teams became necessary. Alicia was currently leading a team of Louis, Semora, and Jack Nelson.

Alicia looked in the direction Louis indicated, holding a hand up to block the setting sun. "Semora, Nelson, go get Kiera. We've got a human approaching."

* * *

"Okay," Kiera said, "we need to get a picture of which cities were attacked. I heard reports of attacks on Vermillion and Jubilife, but I would assume there are more. Did anyone hear any other reports?"

"I heard Vermillion and Violet," Jack Lieber-the group had taken to calling him and Jack Nelson by their last names in order to avoid confusion-said. "I had the radio on when things started happening."

"I heard Olivine and Hearthome," Abel said.

"I heard Slateport," Kate put in.

"Anyone else?" Kiera asked. _I guess not_, she thought after a silence. _Scattered reports. I guess it's just another sign of how quickly this all happened._ "All right, then."

"I'm more worried about why this is happening," Darren said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. So why is it happening now?"

Before anyone had a chance to reply, Semora and Nelson made their sudden return to the campsite. _And they're without Alicia and Louis, and they were running. This can't be good._ "Report," Kiera said.

"Someone's coming," Semora said. "A human. Alicia had us tell you."

Kiera got to her feet. "And she made the right decision. Louis is still with her?" A nod. "Good. Take me to them. And fast."

* * *

When Kiera and the other two made it outside, they saw Alicia and Louis conversing with the newcomer, who, Kiera noticed, had a Pokeball hanging on a necklace. Alicia turned as the three of them approached. "Ah, Kiera. Good."

Kiera approached the newcomer. "I'm Kiera," she said. "Kiera Sente. I'm the one in charge of our group. What's your name?"

The new woman extended her hand, and Kiera took it. "Evangeline Drake. Call me Eva."

"So," Kiera said, "you're solo?"

Eva nodded. "I am. Things were… well, crazy. I… don't think many of us made it "

"Us?"

"Eva's a radio DJ," Louis said. "She was on the air when reports of an attack on Vermillion came in."

"I was on until the tower was attacked," Eva said. "Everyone ran for it, but in that chaos, there was no way we could manage to stick together. I… haven't seen anyone else since making it out. I didn't stay to look, though. I just ran for it."

"It's been a few hours since the attack," Kiera said. "We came here pretty much right away. What were you doing before coming here?"

"I hid out in an empty house. I came in right after the attackers moved through that area. A smaller group was still in the area, going from house to house, but I picked one they'd already been through. I thought it was fairly unlikely they'd come in again. And I was right."

"So you stayed there until the chaos died down."

Eva nodded. "Yes. I decided to stay there until the attack was over. I was hoping they'd all leave when they were done, but I never thought that was likely."

Eva'd been right, of course, although it didn't seem as though the full force was still in Goldenrod. Kiera's assumption was that most of the force had departed, leaving a detachment behind. A fairly large one, she was sure, but given the apparent size of the attack force, it was more than large enough to leave a few detachments of that size. "Well," Kiera said, "what's still here is certainly less than the full force. I think they're here to hunt down survivors."

"Yeah," Eva said. "That was my thought, too. I think we can certainly expect them to stay here for some time. So I decided to move to a better location, hopefully one where others might be. This was the closest good place I could think of. And I may not be an active trainer now, but I used to be, and my team's still in shape, so I thought we'd probably be able to make it here."

"Well," Kiera said, "it looks like you were right. And you're certainly welcome to join us,"

"Thank you."

"Okay, then. Quick question: what's your Pokemon team?"

Eva hesitated slightly before responding. "Glaceon, Flareon, Tropius, Donphan, a-and Ampharos."

"Just five?"

"Y-yeah," Eva replied, a hand going to the ball on her necklace.

_Did…_ "Did your sixth die?"

Eva quickly hid a look of surprise, but not quickly enough to keep Kiera from seeing it. "Um, y-yes."

_The question surprised her,_ Kiera thought. _Was she just surprised to hear the question, or is she… well, only one way to find out. Not with the others here, though._ "I'm sorry to hear that. Right, then. Alicia, you take the others back to the campsite. I'll take Eva around the store to get a bag of her own packed."

"Don't you need to get a bag for her first?" Alicia asked.

Kiera opened her pack and removed the extra pack, handing it to Eva. "She can have this one. I'll grab another backup pack once we're done."

"Wait," Eva said, "you keep a pack in your pack?"

"I don't want to have to worry about losing my carrying capacity if my pack fails. That'd be a lot of stuff I'd have to leave behind."

"Right, then," Alicia said. "See you shortly. Nelson, Louis, Semora, let's go."

Alicia's group reentered the store. Kiera turned to Eva. "Okay, before we go inside, I have a question. What was your sixth Pokemon?"

"I- it's- it was- why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity. What was it?"

"I- um- it- look, I don't think this is something you have a reason to know."

_Okay, then. Looks like you were probably lying._ "I would agree, actually."

"Then why are you asking?"

"To answer a different question," Kiera said. "Which brings me to the real point here. Your sixth didn't die, did it?"

"I- what?"

"Did your sixth Pokemon really die?"

"I… look, why does it matter?"

"It didn't, then."

"Fine," Eva said after a pause. "No, it didn't."

"I won't ask why you hid the identity of your sixth, but I do want you to tell me what your sixth is. If you want it kept secret, I won't tell anyone."

"But you want me to tell you."

"Yes," Kiera said, "and there's a difference. I'm in charge of this group. I need to know. I won't tell anyone else, but I do need you to tell me."

"And if I don't?"

"You already know that I'm in charge of the group," Kiera said. "I can't have people keeping things from me, and I can't have people refusing to do what I say. Voicing objections is fine-as long as the situation's not urgent, of course-but in the end, I need you to do what I tell you. If you can't, then you're not joining the group."

"What? You'd just abandon me?"

Kiera chuckled, remembering her conversation with Michelle. "No," she said. "It's your choice. I don't want to leave someone behind, but I'm in charge of this group. That means I'm responsible for getting us through this alive. And to do that, I need to know that people will do what I say, and I need to know that people aren't keeping information from me. So when I ask a question, I need it answered. If you want the identity of your sixth Pokemon kept secret, I won't tell anyone, but I do need you to tell me."

"The reason I don't want to say it," Eva said, "is because I don't want people knowing that I have it. I don't want the attention I would get if people knew."

"You're a DJ, right? I know they're not the most recognized of people, but surely you've had people who recognize your name or your voice or something."

"Yeah," Eva said. "Louis, most recently. But this would be different. This would be a lot of attention, and it'd be worldwide."

_What did she catch? _"Temporarily, maybe, but you'd be old news before too long."

"Maybe to the general public, but not to trainers."

"Well, it's your choice," Kiera said. "I won't tell anyone."

"Well… all right," Eva said eventually. "But you'll need to see this to believe it." She looked around as she reached up to the ball on her necklace. "Nobody else in sight. Good. Here we go." She pressed the button on the ball, releasing the Pokemon inside.

Kiera took a step back in surprise. _She has a-_

Eva approached her Pokemon and indicated Kiera. "Latias, this is Kiera. Say hi." Latias gave a cry, after which Eva returned it to the ball. "There," she said, turning to face Kiera again. "Now you know."

"How the hell did you pull that off?"

"I didn't actually catch her," Eva explained. "She was badly injured. Some bastard was attacking her when I found her, but I don't think that's how she initially got injured. Anyways, I drove the man off, then put Latias in a ball and took her to a Pokemon Center. I intended to release her afterwards, but she wanted to stay with me."

_Don't they usually come in pairs?_ "What about the Latios?"

"No sign."

_Probably dead, then._ "When did this happen?"

"Just a couple weeks ago, actually."

"Interesting. Well, I can certainly understand why you're worried about public attention. You're right, trainers would be recognizing you long after you faded from the public eye. Well, I won't be the one to tell anybody."

"Thank you."

"All right, then. Let's get started on that supply-"

"Someone's coming," Eva said, pointing east.

Kiera turned to look. Though the person was still a ways off, he or she was visible, and appeared to be headed their way. "Well, let's wait for our newcomer, then."

As the person drew closer, Kiera and Eva were able to get a better look. The person was a rather tall woman, although probably not as tall as Kiera. _Pretty high on the looks scale, too,_ Kiera thought. More notable, though, was the woman's manner. She wasn't moving quickly and carefully like Kiera's group had; she was walking down the middle of the street, almost as if she was daring someone to attack her. And as she drew closer, Kiera and Eva could see that she had a pack on her. But what really got their attention was…

"Um," Eva said, "is that- does she- why does-"

"Is that a sword?" Kiera said.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, this woman just got interesting."

"Hello, there," the woman said when she was close enough for conversation. "Should I assume you two are thinking of hiding out here?"

"Actually, we've already been here for a few hours," Kiera said. "Well, except for Eva here. She only just got here. I got here earlier. And not just me; I've got a group inside."

"Well, whatever. I'm Lyrica. You?"

"Kiera. And this is Eva. Um…"

Lyrica laughed. "The sword, right? Yeah, I get some good looks. I'm quite glad for it at the moment, though. In a situation like this, having a weapon is a good thing."

"Really?" Eva said. "How's it help? You can't do a lot against most Pokemon anyways."

"Thing like that are generally more effective than you might think," Kiera said. "I've been keeping an eye out for something I could use as a weapon myself. Some kind of pole or something, something I can use to substitute for a staff. I don't actually have a staff, but I've trained with one."

"Really?"

"Yeah, although it's been a while since I've had any practice. I did martial arts training for a couple years. I knew I wanted to be a trainer, and I thought it was a good idea to know how to defend myself. It was mostly unarmed, but there was some weapon training mixed in. And I have kept in practice with the unarmed stuff."

"I see," Eva said.

Kiera turned back to Lyrica. "Anyways, back to you. You're welcome to join the group if you want. The only condition is that you recognize that I'm in charge, and do what I say. You can object, discuss things with me, whatever-although don't do so in the middle of an urgent situation-but in the end, I'll need you to follow whatever decision I make."

"Fair enough," Lyrica said. "Yes I'd like to stick with your group. Gives me a better chance of making it out alive."

"Welcome aboard, then. Although we prefer to try and stay out of sight."

Lyrica laughed. "Noticed that, did you?"

"Kind of hard not to."

"Indeed. And think about it. Most Pokemon can tear the average human apart without much difficulty. So what are they going to think when they see me walking down the street like I own the place? Not what they expect, I'll guarantee you that. They don't see prey in me; they see a predator."

"Surely they'd know you're bluffing, though," Eva said. "Then they'd attack."

"And find out very quickly that there was no bluff. Hell, I didn't even need any of my own Pokemon for the first group that came at me, although it was just a small group of Ratatta. They obviously thought I was bluffing. I think the only one that got away from me alive isn't going to make that mistake again."

"That's just Ratatta, though."

Lyrica nodded. "Yes. And usually, I did need my Pokemon. But we're all tough. None of the scattered individuals and small groups we encountered lasted long."

"I see," Kiera said. "Well, anyways, our group does need to stay out of sight. There's twenty in total, counting all three of us. Four of them don't have even one Pokemon. Four others have one Pokemon purely as pets, and one other has two pet Pokemon. Five are spaced throughout the bug catcher range, so they'd be able to fight back, but even the toughest of them would be done before long-although their teams are certainly not worthless, and a hell of a lot better than nothing. That leaves six real trainers, including all three of us." Given the total percentage of trainers among the population, six out of twenty was a disproportionately high number. All three of them knew why there were more trainers, although none of them said it. In a situation like this one, non-trainers were less likely to survive.

"The other fourteen can't effectively defend themselves," Kiera said "So yeah, they need to stay out of sight. And so do you if I tell you to."

"Sure," Lyrica said. "I may disagree, and I may voice my disagreement, but yes, I can follow instructions."

"Then welcome to the group. Quick question: what's your Pokemon team?"

"Nidoking, Tyranitar, Rhydon, Aggron, Garchomp, and Salamence."

_The brute force approach, then. _"I'm guessing subtlety isn't exactly your strong suit."

"I prefer the direct approach."

"I can understand that," Kiera said. "Okay, then. Down to business. First, I've only made one rule so far: never go anywhere alone. Have another human with you at all times. I don't even want you closing the door while you're on the toilet; safety is more important that privacy."

"I have to agree with you there," Lyrica said.

"Right. Now, I was about to take Eva through the store on a supply run-I'm having everyone keep packs ready; there's no telling when we may have to make a run for it. How's your pack?"

"Decent, but not great. An opportunity to change that is a good thing."

"Let's go, then," Kiera said as she let Eva and Lyrica into the store.

* * *

"We need some sort of plan," Kiera said as the three of them made back to the campsite after they were finished. "We can't stay here; we'll be found eventually, and given the enemy's behavior, they'll likely make a major effort to kill us. We can stay here for now, but we need to get out of Goldenrod as soon as we can."

"And go where?" Lyrica asked. "We don't know which cities were attacked."

"We know some. Some of us heard various scattered reports before the power was taken out. But you're right; we don't have enough information. We don't know which cities were and were not attacked. We can't really come up with a destination until we do know that. The problem is getting that information. We'd need some way to communicate with… well, let's call it 'the outside'. The places that haven't been attacked. We need some way to contact the outside."

"Any ideas?" Lyrica asked.

"Actually, yes," Kiera said. "Eva, you said the radio tower was attacked. How much damage did they do to the equipment?"

"A lot," Eva replied. "I think they hit the equipment deliberately."

"Do you think there's anything there that would still work?"

"It's possible. Not the main equipment, but there was a lot of stuff in storage. It would be older equipment, but if it's intact, it would work. We'd need a power source, though."

"We'll grab a converter. There's a big electronics store on the way; we'll take one from there."

"Sounds good to me," Lyrica said. "When do we go?"

"Actually," Kiera replied, "I want you to stay here. Whoever I leave in charge while I'm gone should be someone who's shown that he or she won't panic. Right now, the only ones I have who've shown that are you and Eva; you proved it simply by making it here on your own, something you likely couldn't have done if you'd panicked. So it has to be one of you. And I'll need Eva to handle the radio equipment. That leaves you."

"Fine," Lyrica said. "Who all are you taking?"

"That's actually a tough one, since I'll have to divide the skilled trainers between us. Hmm… actually, I think it'll just be me and Eva. I don't want to pull all the combat ability away from protecting the others, and I wouldn't be able to make a strong force for this without doing exactly that. So it'll just be the two of us."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Eva asked.

"We'll be fine. With just two of us, we can move faster and stay out of sight more easily. And the two of us'll be more than enough to handle anything we're likely to run into. A large enough to give us trouble isn't likely to be searching the city. That's the kind of force you bring in when you have a tough target. You're more likely to see something like that than we are, Lyrica. Although I wouldn't worry too much; I don't think that's a likely scenario just yet. In a few days, maybe, but not yet."

"I'd have to agree," Lyrica said. "All right, then, when are you leaving?"

"Early in the morning, I think. Like before everyone's awake early. I'll arrange watch schedules so that we're on the last shift. Lyrica, you'll be on that shift as well, and so will one other; I plan to use four-person watches. I'd like to have replacements for myself and Eva, but that might deprive two of us of enough rest, so I'm not going to do it."

"Got it," Lyrica said. "Good luck tomorrow, then."

"Thanks," Kiera said. _Let's just hope this works._


	3. Chapter 3: Current Situation

**Chapter 3  
**_Current Situation_

"So," Matthew said between bites of his burger, "has anyone been thinking about all this?"

Kiera had returned to the campsite with Eva and Lyrica to find the group setting up for dinner. Mara and Jeremy had picked up some meat from the meat cooler (which was no longer very cool, but the meat was still good, although it wouldn't be that way for much longer), along with a few other things. Then they'd brought over a charcoal grill (although they kept it outside the main campsite area) and proceeded to make and grill burgers. "We may not be able to bring a grill with us," Jeremy'd said, "but we can still use it while we're here."

Mara laughed. "Um, Matthew, it's kind of hard not to think about it." In this particular conversation with the two of them were Kiera, Eva, Abel, and Kate.

"We're kind of in the middle of it," Mara continued. "You try putting it out of your mind."

"I mean about why's it's happening."

"How are we supposed to know?" Abel said. "All we know is that it is happening."

"Actually," Mara said, "we may at least be able to make a few connections."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Try to think back to what the big story was before this happened."

"Norman's affair with one of his gym trainers," Matthew said. Simultaneously, Eva said, "Maylene coming out as a lesbian."

Mara laughed. "I mean the long-running big story. The important big story. The one that actually deserves to be called news."

Kiera knew where Mara was going; she'd had the same thought. But it was Eva who answered first. "Are you talking about the choice effect?"

Mara nodded. "I am."

"Wait," Matthew said, "you think that's related?"

"Um, what's the choice effect?" Kate asked.

_Really?_ Kiera thought. _Damn, did this woman come out of a novel? It's like her only purpose is to have us explain things._ "It's been all over the news. Do you not follow the news at all?"

"I don't. It's all scandal, fear, and violence. I don't need that."

"Well, that's kind of an exaggeration, but I see your point. Okay, then. The 'choice effect'-" _not a great name, if you ask me,_ "-is fairly recent; it's only been seen in the past couple months. It refers to the large increase in incidents of newly-caught Pokemon attacking their new trainers, or disobeying them, or running away, or that sort of thing. It's thought to be a result of Pokemon being more selective about who they'll accept as a trainer. The big question is why it only started recently; I, for one, was surprised that such a thing hadn't already happened."

"I see," Kate said.

"Anyways, Mara's saying that the choice effect is connected to the attacks and genocide we're seeing now. The same thought has occurred to me, although I'm not certain it's the right idea. Hell, I'm surprised the choice effect only happened this recently; I've always been surprised at how few Pokemon object to capture, and I've also been surprised at how few strike out against cruel or abusive trainers. But anyways, I'd say there probably isn't much of a connection."

"I'd say it's more likely than that," Mara said, "but either way, it's something to keep in mind."

"Agreed. Although I don't know hom much it matters to our situation. Whatever the reason for this is, we're stuck in the middle of it."

"Yeah," Matthew said. "Well, I'm still hungry, so I'm getting another burger."

"Go ahead," Mara said. "We made plenty. In fact, I think I'll grab another myself. All that running through the city worked up an appetite."

"Yeah," Kiera said, "you can work up an appetite. That's why we had you put so much food and water in your packs; you go through it quickly when you're hiking all day. Hell, I'm going to have a second myself, and I'm eating less that I usually do in the wild."

"Well, eat up," Mara said. "There's plenty to go around."

* * *

"All right," Kiera said, "here's the deal. The night watch will be a team of four. We'll go in shifts; when your shift is up, wake the next shift. Tonight's first shift will be Daniel, Brandon, Abel, and Nelson. The second shift will be Alicia, Jeremy, Tamara, and Semora. Third will be Seth, Kate, Michelle, and Louis. Shift four will be Liener, Serena, Darren, and Mara, and the last shift will be myself, Eva, Lyrica, and Matthew."

It was Serena who spoke next. "Um, I don't think anyone in my shift is a trainer. And aren't you, Eva, and Lyrica all trainers? Do all three of you really need to be on the same shift?"

"It may not always be possible to have a trainer leading every group, and if that happens, I want us to have had some practice. And look at your group; you may not be true trainers, but you're hardly helpless." And indeed, all four were among the group's bug catchers. "Besides, I'm not expecting any trouble tonight. And if there is, the first step is to wake everyone up. That goes for everyone; if something happens, wake everyone up. Okay? Good."

* * *

Once the bug catcher shift had gone back to sleep, Kiera got to her feet. "Okay, it's time."

"Time for what?" Matthew asked.

"Eva and I have something we need to do. Lyrica's in charge until we get back."

"Wait, what? You're just suddenly going off on your own?"

"Taking more would weaken this group unacceptably."

"And you didn't think you should tell us about this?"

"Another test run," Kiera said. "I want to know how everyone will react if they suddenly find me gone."

"Is that why you had the three of you on this shift?"

"That's one reason, although the one I gave everyone is also true."

"This is crazy. You know that, right?"

"Maybe, but it needs to be done. We can't stay here for too long. We'll be found eventually. But if we're going to leave, we need a destination. For that, we need to know which cities have and have not been attacked. Eva and I are going to try to make contact with the outside and obtain that information."

"Oh," Matthew said. "Well, I still don't agree with your methods here."

"Noted," Kiera said. "Come on, Eva. Let's go."

* * *

"This store," Eva said, "took a lot more damage than ours has."

Kiera and Eva were outside Goldenrod Electronics, a big electronics department store with a name that Kiera found amusing, seeing as how it had become a multi-regional chain. The entire front wall of the store was pretty much gone, and several sections of the roof had collapsed. The two of them made their way over the rubble and into the store. They moved through the store until, eventually, they found what they were looking for. "This is it," Kiera said.

"I'm kind of surprised a store like this has converters."

"Most chains wouldn't have something like this, but this chain's always made the effort to cater to trainers. That's why the portable electronics area is so large. But if you want to use something that's not battery-powered while you're out in the wild, well, you'll need some way to power it. Which is why the store carries these. Oh, and you could use it to recharge batteries, too, although Pokemon generally can't go for long enough to make that worth it." Kiera put the device in her bag. "Okay, let's go."

On the way out, Kiera spotted a metal pole among the debris at the front. _This'll work_, Kiera thought as she picked it up. _Hmm… broke off of something, definitely. Not a clean break, either. Not really a problem. Although I may have Garchomp give it a clean break. Actually, yeah, I'll do that. It's a bit large anyways._ She released Garchomp briefly, returning her after she cut the pole. _I'll have to carry this for now. I'll rig up some straps for it once we get back, strap it to my bag._ "All right, then," Kiera said. "Let's get moving."

* * *

Eva led Kiera into the radio tower. "Be careful," she said. "This isn't just collateral damage like the other buildings. They wrecked this pace deliberately. It's not in good-" A piece of the ceiling collapsed. "Well, that makes my point for me. The stairs should be in good shape, though."

And they were. The two of them checked each floor as they went up. It was on the fifth floor that they found what they needed. "I think this'll work," Eva said. "The radio itself is destroyed, but most of the other equipment is in good shape, and there should be something in storage that we can use. That's down in the basement, so come on."

"Why didn't we go down there first?" Kiera asked.

"Because I didn't know what all we'd need. Now I do."

"And you're sure you know what you're doing?"

"Hey, I may be a DJ, but I've been one long enough to pick up a lot. I've seen the techs do enough to pick up a good deal. I couldn't make major repairs, but I can certainly do what we need."

"Okay, then. Let's go get what we need."

"And… okay, ready," Eva said. "Let's plug it into the converter."

"Got it," Kiera said as she took the converter out of her pack. She handed it to Eva. "Here."

Eva plugged it in, then grabbed a Pokeball and released Ampharos. "Here, Ampharos, we need to put these on you. Kiera?"

Kiera attached the cords to Ampharos. "That should do it. Let's do a test run."

"Ampharos, give us a weak burst, okay?" Ampharos did so.

"We're good," Kiera said, looking at the converter's readouts. "Let's do this."

Eva picked up a chair from the floor, placing it in front of the equipment and sitting down. "Ampharos, keep it weak, but this time, keep going until I say to stop. Start." As Ampharos provided power, Eva went to work. "Okay, stop." She put a headset on, then turned to Kiera. "Ready." She handed Kiera a headset. "Here. You can do most of the talking. You won't get much time; in order to get enough power to send the strength of signal we need, Ampharos will need to go all-out, and I doubt she can keep that up for more than a couple minutes. We'll have to use an emergency-reserved frequency and hope there's an active automated emergency relay tower in range, since there's no other way to get as wide a range as we'll need; those relay stations are specially designed for ultra-long-distance transmission."

"I don't need the technical stuff," Kiera said. "That's your job. Let's get this done."

"Got it," Eva said. "Ampharos, I need you to go full-power for as long as you possibly can, okay? Go."

As the equipment began receiving power, Eva turned to Kiera. "Start talking. Just keep going until you get a response; I'll be trying differeny frequencies. Go."

Kiera put the headset on. "Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear this? Is anyone receiving this?"

"Keep going," Eva said.

Eventually, there was a response. "Hello?"

"Got someone!" Eva said.

"Do you read me?" Kiera said.

"Yes," the voice on the other end replied. "Who are you?"

"We've only got a short time, so please cooperate with me. We are a group of survivors in Goldenrod City. We're attempting to plan an escape, but we don't know which cities have and have not been hit. Please list the attacked cities."

"Okay," the man on the other end replied; no doubt assuming correctly that the radio was running on Pokemon power. "Pewter, Cerulean, Vermilion, Celadon, and Fuchsia were hit, along with Cinnabar. In Johto, aside from Goldenrod, it's Cianwood, Olivine, Ecruteak, and Blackthorne. Most of the small towns within those regions have also been hit, including the 'gym towns' of Azalea and Mahogany. Those two regions bore the brunt of the attack. In Sinnoh, only Hearthome and Jubilife were hit. In Hoenn, they hit Slateport and Mauville. They also attacked Lilycove, but we won that fight."

_One victory?_ "Difference?"

"Luck. The local naval base was conducting full-scale war games off the coast. They detected an incoming aquatic force, and when attacked, they engaged and repelled the enemy. By the time they'd returned to shore, a land-based force was attacking, presumably as a planned coordinated strike. But on its own and without the element of surprise, that force was unable to take the city, although there were heavy casualties before they were driven out."

"I see. One of my people said he'd heard that Violet City had been attacked."

"Not yet."

_I guess there was some miscommunication somewhere. Not surprising, really._ "Violet's close. Thoughts on us heading there?"

"Not advised. Forces are massing around the city; they're likely to attack at any time. Too large a force for Violet's air forces to repel. Unlikely that aid could arrive in time. Violet's lost."

"Understood."

"Ampharos can't last much longer," Eva said.

"We're almost out of time," Kiera said. "Recommended course of action?"

"Unclear. Johto and Kanto seem to be the main focus at the moment; finding safety in either region is unlikely. Military forces are working on plans, but getting a sufficient force assembled will take some time, and then they have to get there."

"Survival for that long is unlikely."

"Agreed. I'm sorry, but I don't have any good ideas. Hiding out in the wilderness somewhere seems to be the best of a set of bad options, but I'll be honest. Your survival seems unlikely."

'Kiera," Eva said, "we're about to lose it."

Kiera nodded. "All right. We're out of power here. Thank you for the information. We'll have to figure out a plan of action. We may be in a bad situation, but we'll be doing everything we can to survive it. If possible, we may attempt contact again."

"Understood. Good luck."

"Thank you," Kiera said. "Eva, done."

"That's good, Ampharos," Eva said, and the Pokemon ceased it efforts, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. She knelt down and disconnected the converter from Ampharos. "I'm sorry to have to work you so hard. You did great. Thank you," she concluded as she recalled Ampharos.

"Well," Kiera said as she and Eva removed the headsets, "things do not look good."

"At least we know," Eva said. "And if we do try this again, we should have more time to talk; I shouldn't need to do a frequency hunt next time."

Kiera unplugged the converter and returned it to her pack. "Well, we're done here," she said. "Come on, let's get back."

* * *

A group of four, led by Daniel, was outside when Kiera and Eva returned. "Good," Daniel said, "you're back."

"I hope nothing happened while I was gone," Kiera said.

"Well, Michelle threw another fit, but that's all."

"She's a spoiled bitch," Kate said. "I actually know her from before all this, although not very well-my cousin and her brother are married-and she's acting exactly as I'd expect."

"Will she be a problem?" Kiera asked.

"I'm not certain-I don't know her that well, remember-but I'd guess no. She'll whine and complain a lot, but you shouldn't have any real problems with her. Just make sure you stay firm, and don't give her any slack."

"I wasn't planning to" She turned to Daniel. "Anyways, I assume you're doing a perimeter sweep?"

Daniel nodded. "Lyrica's been having us do them, just like you."

"Well, go ahead and finish it. Come on, Eva, let's head in."

* * *

"We're back," Kiera said as she and Eva entered the campsite.

"Oh, you're back," Michelle said. "And why the hell did you just run off in the first place?"

"To get information. Eva and I went to the radio tower and made contact with someone on the outside."

"Oh? And is there some reason you decided not to tell us?"

"Oh, shut up," Lyrica said. "You don't give a shit about that. You're just pissed because I didn't let you break the rules. Maybe you should think about the fact that our goal is to survive, okay? Would you really prefer to die rather than have someone watching while you're on the toilet?"

"That's not going to happen."

"Irrelevant," Kiera said. "You said you'd do as I say."

"You weren't here."

"And I left Lyrica in charge. You told her that, right, Lyrica?" Lyrica nodded. "See? You knew I'd left her in charge."

"No. You never said anything about her. How was I supposed to know she was telling the truth?"

"Stop trying to justify yourself," Kiera said. "You know damn well you were going against me. This is your final warning: do not do it again."

"Or what, you'll abandon me? Condemn me to death? You don't have the guts."

Kiera walked up to Michelle, locking eyes with her. "You want to bet on that?" No reply. "That's what I thought. Right, then. Do not do it again."

Kiera walked over to Mara, who'd put a makeshift flame-heated stove together and was frying eggs. She took a serving, then sat down_. Not what I needed,_ she thought as she began eating. _Maybe Kate's right, and she won't cause any real problems, but something tells me I won't be that lucky. Damn, and this is already bad enough. What the hell's going to happen next?_


	4. Chapter 4: Bad Options

**Chapter 4  
**_Bad Options_

"All right," Kiera said to the group once breakfast was finished. "By now, you should all know that Eva and I were gone this morning because we went to the radio tower. We succeeded in making contact with the outside, and got as much information as we could in the limited time we had."

"What's the situation, then?" Jeremy asked. "How bad is it?"

"Bad, especially in this region and Kanto. Hoenn and Sinnoh got off light; only two cities in each were taken. There was also an attack on Lilycove, but naval forces there were engaged in war games at the time. They detected an approaching aquatic force early, and were able to repel it and get back to base before the land attack came in, intended as a coordinated strike alongside the water force. There were substantial casualties, military and civilian, but the attack force was defeated."

"At least one force lost," Nelson remarked.

"Yeah, although that doesn't really help us. In Kanto, Pewter, Cerulean, Vermilion, Celadon, Fuchsia, and Cinnabar were hit. As for Johto, Goldenrod was hit, of course, along with Cianwood, Olivine, Ecruteak, and Blackthorne. In addition, most small towns in those two regions have been hit, as well, including Mahogany and Azalea."

"Violet wasn't hit?" Liener said.

"It wasn't. Presumably, whatever report of that you heard was in error. Miscommunication and misunderstanding is understandable, given how quickly and suddenly the shit hit the fan."

"Do we make for Violet, then?" Tamara asked.

Kiera shook her head. "Violet hasn't been attacked yet, but forces are gathering around the city, and an attack is expected to happen any time now. They've already written Violet off as lost; they can't get sufficient aid there in time. So Violet's out."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"We don't have any good options," Kiera said. "There's no good place to run to, and we can't stay here. Sure, a military force will be sent eventually, but first everyone has to organize their forces, and they've got to make sure their defensive forces are sufficient before they can organize an offensive force. And then there's the time it'll take the force to actually get here. There's no way we'll survive that long. The man I spoke with had the idea of hiding out in the wild, but even he admitted that doing so was extremely unlikely to keep us alive long enough."

"Sounds like the best option we have, though," Serena said.

"I… I may have another option."

Kiera turned to the speaker. "You've got an idea? What is it?"

"It's… no, it's a bad option."

"Bad options are all we have. Let's hear it."

"Okay," Kate said. "My father owns a-no, owned; he's… he's probably dead. He lived in Olivine." She paused. "Um, anyways, he owned a private yacht. If it's still there, and still usable, we could use it."

"What kind of dumbass idea is that?" Abel remarked. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

"We're not going to survive long enough to be rescued," Lyrica said. "That means we need to escape, and if we have nowhere to run to here or in Kanto, then Kate's got the right idea. The only other option is to go overseas."

"And all end up dead when we try to do so."

"Any chance is better than none."

"And we have a chance here. We go hide out in the wild."

"And how long do you think we'll last? Because it'll take quite a while for help to arrive."

"Can a yacht even get that far?"

"How the hell should I know? Kate?"

Kate sighed. "I didn't think about that. Um, no, not without refueling."

"Then we can bring extra fuel," Louis put in.

"Something tells me refueling a boat isn't as simple as just pouring the fuel into the tank," Lyrica said, "but yeah, we could probably figure something out."

"It's an idea worth considering," Kiera said. "I certainly don't have any better ideas."

"The boat would have to be in good shape, though," Kate said. "And be there, of course."

"If it's not, we can just take a different ship."

"It'll have to be one I can pilot, though," Kate said. "I've taken the wheel on the yacht several times, but that's it. The yacht has state-of-the-art navigation gear, though, so you don't need to know anything about that. And it has an auto-pilot, of course, but ours is a lot more advanced than most; we got one of the most capable and thus most expensive models. I doubt I could handle anything else there, even other small ships like ours.

"I could," Michelle said.

"Really?" Kiera said. "Doesn't seem like something you'd know how to do."

"My brother's a helmsman-although the term is quite archaic, and frankly, I have no idea why it's still in use. Anyways, he's currently on a cruise ship in Lilycove, although they probably aren't doing any cruises right now."

_If he's still alive,_ Kiera thought.

Michelle went on. "Anyways, he's worked on a variety of vessels, from small live-aboard dive boats to river ferries to cargo ships to passenger liners. He doesn't need to work, of course; he simply chooses to. He loves it. And loves to talk about it. It can seem like an obsession, really. Anyways, I've had quite a few informal lessons from him. I couldn't navigate completely on my own, but I don't need the full suite of equipment Kate's talking about. And yes, I'll admit that I do find it enjoyable, although it's only our yachts that I've actually piloted. I would even turn some of the equipment off sometimes. You know, challenge myself a little. It's fun, really. It's actually become something of a hobby of mine."

_Cool,_ Kiera thought, _but did we really need the full story? 'It's a hobby' would have sufficed._ "Well, that's good, then. Expands our options some. Right, then, Michelle, it sounds like if we do this, you'll be the one piloting the-"

"Just one minute," Michelle cut in. "Yes, I can do it, but give me one good reason to."

_So she is going to be a problem. Damn it. Right, then. No bullshit; let's cut to the chase._ "What do you want?"

"Ah, I see you're smarter than I thought. Here's the deal, then," she said as she approached Kiera with the arrogance Kiera'd previously seen among some of the wealthy. "First, you're going to do away with the bathroom rule so I can have my privacy. I also expect you to stop asking me to participate in demeaning, menial tasks."

_So we finally see the inner bitch surface completely._

Michelle came to a stop in front of Kiera. "In fact, I don't want you telling me what to do at all. I-"

Kiera punched her in the gut.

"Well, that option's out," Kiera said as Michelle dropped to the floor. "Kate, it looks like we'll have to rely on you if we decide to do this."

"Um… a-all right, I can do my best."

"Good. Thank you."

"This is crazy," Abel said. "Are we actually doing this?"

"I think so," Kiera said. "If you don't want to come, you don't have to."

"No, I'll come. I still think it's crazy, though."

"Noted. All right, then. We won't be leaving today, I don't think. We'll leave tomorrow; there's some prep work to be done first, such as figuring out a basic route. There's also some equipment I'd like to rig up; we didn't have enough time yesterday to get to that. And you quit overreacting," she said to Michelle. "It's not like you're dying. I only knocked the wind out of you."

"And what… the hell… was that for?" Michelle got out as she got to her feet.

"To tell you not to fuck with me. You didn't actually break any rules, so I won't kick you out over this, but I mean it: do _not_ fuck with me again." She gave Michelle another gut punch for emphasis, then turned and walked away.

* * *

Kiera took the first watch that evening, quickly going to sleep afterwards. Seth, Jeremy, Louis, and Kate were on the last shift, and Kiera walked over to them after getting up. "Good morning. No problems, I take it?"

"No problems," Jeremy replied. "A couple Ratata did show up near the beginning of our shift, but they left almost immediately. I didn't even have time to react."

_Oh, shit._ "Why didn't you wake me up? You were supposed to wake me if anything at all happened."

"I didn't think it was worth waking you over," Seth said. "As Jeremy said, they ran off as soon as they noticed us."

"You still should've awoken me."

"Why?" Jeremy asked. "Nothing happened."

"They know where we are."

There was a pause. "Oh," Seth said eventually. "I… I didn't think about that. Stuff like that's so routine on the road, I barely even register it."

"Understandable," Kiera said as she opened her pack, "but that doesn't help us. They've had a couple hours to gather a force; we could be attacked any time now." She grabbed one of her Pokeballs and attempted to place it in her pack. As when she'd demonstrated for Kate, the ball automatically released Sceptile, but more importantly, the bag's alarm went off. She recalled Sceptile right away, but waited until everyone was up to shut the alarm off.

Kiera closed her pack and put it on, then turned to face the group. "Time to get up, people. They've found us. Get your shit together; we're moving in five minutes. Pair up now." The trainers, of course, were ready almost immediately; in the wild, one might very well have to move on a moment's notice, so most experienced trainers were in the habit of being ready to do so at any time. Which, in this case, meant that the trainers were already ready to move, and could be given other tasks. "Seth, Alicia, get outside and get your birds in the air. If anything's heading this way, I want to know about it immediately. If not, just keep the watch going until the rest of us meet you out there. Go!"

Seth and Alicia immediately ran outside. About three minutes later, Seth's Swellow came flying through the store to the campground. It landed in front of Kiera, and she saw a note tied to its leg. She took the note off, and the Swellow immediately flew back outside.

"Okay, people," Kiera said after reading the note," time's up. They're coming. We're moving now. I'm taking the lead. Lyrica, bring up the rear. Let's move!"

* * *

"Update!" Kiera ordered as the rest of the group joined Seth and Alicia, whose birds were now on the ground beside them.

"They're coming from the south," Seth replied, "just like the note said. The only upside is that they don't have any birds, which isn't surprising, since birds aren't really good for combing buildings, which is what the force here is mainly doing. Anyways, their force has split. The intercept force is made up of all of their faster Pokemon and is closing fast. The other force is coming in as quickly as it can, but they probably won't catch us if we keep the speed up. Unless the first force gets to us. Which they can."

_Shit._ "Okay, then. Everyone, time to go. Pokemon out; use the riding setup we went over yesterday.

"Wait," Kate said. "Seth, how did you understand all that from your Pokemon?"

"Not the time," Kiera said. "Riding formation, now! Lyrica, you're in charge! Take the route we planned out yesterday. Eva, you're with me!"

"Wait," Serena said, "what are you doing?"

"Eva and I are the diversion. We'll stall the intercept force, give you time to get away."

"What? Are you insane?"

"Hardly. We'll be fine; I've got a plan."

"But-"

Lyrica shoved Serena over to Brandon's Rapidash. "Damn it, get on! We don't have time to argue!" She looked at Kiera as Serena climbed up behind Brandon. "You do know what you're doing, right?"

Kiera nodded. "We'll be fine."

"All right, then. See you later." Lyrica ran over to Louis, who was on his Mightyena, and got on behind him. "Louis, you make sure Mightyena goes where I tell it to. Everyone else, just follow us. Let's go!"

* * *

"Why," Eva said when she and Kiera were alone, "do I feel like we're about to make a sacrificial last stand?"

"I do have a plan to survive this," Kiera said.

"And just what would that be?"

"Well, let's just say there's a reason I chose you specifically."

"What do you- wait, you don't-you want-is… is it Latias?"

Kiera nodded. "Yes. You've got that little hidden advantage."

"I-no. No. I don't want her to fight."

"She's not going to," Kiera said. "She wouldn't make much of a difference in battle, anyways. In fact, I'm instructing you not to have Latias fight here. She's too important to risk in battle."

Eva calmed down noticeably. "What do you mean?"

"I'm hardly an expert on the legends, but I know a few things. Everybody does, I think. Although I probably know a little more than most; I have a friend who is an expert. Anyways, I know that Latios and Latias aren't particularly capable fighters. Latias' advantage is speed. She's not going to fight; she's our exit. She's going to get us the hell out of here once we've run out of fight."

"I see. Well, that works."

"Good," Kiera said. She released her team, followed by Eva releasing hers, with the exception of Latias. "Right, then. They'll be here any second now. Ready?"

"Ready."

"Then let's do this."


	5. Chapter 5: No Safe Place

**Chapter 5  
**_No Safe Place_

Kiera creamed a Growlithe with her pole, then spun around in time to see Sceptile take another hit. _I can't let her take any more damage._

Kiera had already recalled Arcanine and Gardevoir, and now she recalled Sceptile as well. None of them had been injured badly enough to be taken out of the fight under normal circumstances, but this was hardly normal circumstances. Medicines could only do so much, and they probably weren't going to find a usable Pokemon center anytime soon. Kiera and Eva were recalling their Pokemon so early on in order to insure that their Pokemon didn't get injured beyond what they had the ability to treat.

Kiera had Espeon, Glaceon, and Garchomp still out, whereas Eva was down to just one, Donphan. _We can't keep this up much longer. We should've bought enough time by now, anyways._ "Eva! Time to go!"

Eva took hold of the Pokeball around her neck. "Agreed! Okay, girl, your turn!"

Espeon and Glaceon provided cover as Kiera ran over to Eva. As the two of them climbed onto Latias, Kiera recalled her remaining three. "Okay," Eva said as she recalled Donphan, "get us out of here!"

* * *

Latias landed in the forest west of Goldenrod. "Yes, this is the right spot," Kiera said, looking at her charts. "If they're following the planned route, they'll come right through here."

"What if they don't?" Eva asked as the two of them got off of Latias and Eva recalled it. "You are assuming they'll manage to follow the exact route, you know."

"And Lyrica knows that if she varies, it'll make it harder for us to rejoin them. Although she may leave marks if she has to deviate; she'll be assuming we're behind her, trying to catch up. Of course, there is a reason I chose this particular spot to wait for them; they'll most likely be making camp here."

"That spot there does look like a good site," Eva remarked. "It's even deep enough into the hill to fit most of us in without crowding. Some of us'll have to sleep outside of it, though."

"Darren and Matthew have tents," Kiera reminded her. "I doubt there'll be a problem."

"Good point."

The two of them found places to sit down. "Now," Kiera said, "we wait."

* * *

"Do you really think this boat plan will work?" Eva asked.

"It's better than any of the other options we came up with, but the chances of success are still pretty low. But I'd rather go with a low chance then no chance at all."

"Well, yeah, obviously."

"Okay, then," Kiera said. "Yes, the odds are against us. And yes, we're most likely going to die. But we're still going to do everything we can to get out of this alive. I don't plan to give up, and if any of the others want to give up, then they won't be coming with us."

"Would you really leave them behind?"

"If I have to, I will. I don't want to, but the group has to come before the individuals that compose it."

"I… don't like that idea," Eva said.

"You're probably thinking I'm a cold bitch, aren't you? Well, I can't blame you. I'm the one in charge. If we're going to have any chance of anyone living through this, I have to be cold. Emotionality lowers the chances of survival. You can be as emotional as you want to, but me… well, I'm the one in charge. I don't have that luxury."

"I… see."

"Just be glad you're not the one in charge."

* * *

"This is not a position I ever thought I'd be in," Eva remarked. "I mean, sure, I've spent my share of time in the wild, but not like this. Am I the only one who feels like I'm in a zombie movie?"

"I had that thought myself, actually," Kiera said. "It did have that feel to it, especially back in the city. And sure, that'd be okay for you; you're the one who'd make it out alive. I'm the one in charge; that means I'd die at some point, probably near the end when we were putting out final plan into action. Or it'd be my death that spurred you into action."

Eva laughed. "And Lyrica?"

"Lyrica's the mandatory badass character. She'd die in a sacrificial last stand, but not before taking a shitload of them with her. Kate's the obligatory panicked girl. Michelle's the asshole who eventually dies in a karmically appropriate manner. Jeremy's the resourceful one, the guy who always seems to be able to find a way to get something done, and a likely later death."

"So what, I'm the only guaranteed survivor?"

"Yeah. The most likely second survivor would be whoever ends up as your love interest. So who is it?"

Eva was about to reply when the two of them heard someone approaching. Before long, Lyrica stepped into view, then stopped in surprise. "What the-?"

"Hi, there," Kiera said. "What took you so long?"

* * *

"Okay," Lyrica said, "just how the hell did you get here so quickly?"

"There's just two of us," Kiera said. "We could move faster than the group. We thought we'd catch up to you, but when we got here, we figured we'd missed you along the way. So we decided to wait here, seeing as how good a spot this is for a campground."

"All right. Let's set up camp, then."

"Indeed." Kiera got to her feet. "Darren, Matthew, set up the tents by that nice little indentation over there; anyone who's not in the tents will be in there. As far as food goes, go ahead and eat whenever. If you want to heat something up, do so in that clear spot over there. No regular fire, but Pokemon fire's smokeless, so you can use that instead. Most of you will probably feel a lot hungrier than usual, but seeing as how you've been hiking all day, that's to be expected. Some of you may be in the habit of watching what you eat; forget about that. If you're still hungry, keep eating; you'll be getting enough exercise to make up for it, and you do not want to undereat when you're out in the wild like this. If you need a 'bathroom run', just find a good place and do your thing. Don't go too far away, but try not to do it right here; we don't want our campsite to start stinking. Oh, and remember to have someone else with you at all times."

"Oh, come on!" Michelle said. "We're out of the city, aren't we?"

"Yes, but we're not safe. We're in less of an immediate danger, perhaps, but we are still in danger. We're not safe just because we made it out of Goldenrod; there is no safe place here. We're still in danger. You all need to remember that. Any other objections?" Silence. "Good. All right, then. We stay here tonight. I'll have the watch schedule figured out shortly. And everyone, try to get to sleep quickly. We leave early."

* * *

"Okay," Kiera said after everyone was awake the next morning, "here's the plan. Get some breakfast if you want, but do it quickly; we're leaving soon. Now, yesterday you basically took a long walk. Today, you'll be doing some real hiking. The enemy's sure to have the main routes covered, so we won't be using them. Our route to Olivine will be through the mountains. It's a shorter direct distance, but don't expect travel time to be any shorter. First of all, we won't be able to just go in a straight line. And secondly, we won't be spending much time on trails. We can use hiking trails that overlap with our route, but for most of the time, we'll be trailblazing. Some of you, I'm sure, have done some hiking. I would assume, however, that you're used to hiking on trails. That's not the kind of hiking we'll be doing.

"I need to warn all of you that what we'll be doing isn't exactly safe. Hiking trails usually are fairly safe, but as I said, we won't be using many of those. The terrain we'll be going through is unpredictable; we don't know what we'll run into. So I'll need all of you to be careful.

"I can't determine in advance what our exact path will be; that depends on the terrain. I'll generally be trying to keep us down in the valleys, but it's unlikely that we'll be able to stay low for the entire time. Be especially careful whenever we're on a mountainside. We'll try to avoid any especially dangerous spots, but even so, be careful. Trail hiking is pretty safe, but what we're doing isn't. If we're all careful, we should all be able to make it through just fine, but only if we're all careful.

"If you get hungry while we're on the move, get something out of your pack; there's a reason we had you all pack all those bars and trail mixes and all that. And make sure you're drinking plenty of water. Don't try to ration it; drink as much as you need to. That's why we had everyone bring so much of it.

"Some of you may be tempted to ride your Pokemon. There may be times when riding is not an option; any Pokemon large enough to ride might have trouble with some of what we'll be passing through. I will leave the decision up to each of you individually at all other times, but I do have something more to say about that. Most of you haven't given your Pokemon much training. You may tire them out if you ride too much. If you want to ride, I would recommend waiting until necessary. A lot of you are likely to tire out before too long, and we won't be taking breaks nearly as often as you'd like. Use riding as a way to have a rest."

"We could go faster if we all rode," Michelle said.

"Not really. Pokemon get tired, too, you know. Sure, we can use them to move faster for a time, but they can't keep those speeds up forever. So I say let's not tire them out when we may need them to fight. We can walk ourselves."

"That's easy for you to say. _Some_ of us don't live on the road, you know."

"You might want to shut up," Lyrica remarked.

"You shut up! I have had it-"

"You might want to take her advice," Kiera said. "I just laid out how this is going to work. Your objections are noted, but we're doing this the way I just went over. If you can't handle that, then you know what happens."

"I can't believe you! You'd really leave me to die just because I tire out too quickly?"

"If you're enough of a spoiled bitch that you can't handle putting out a goddamn effort for once in your life, then yes, you will be left behind. I'm not going to leave anyone behind just because you're not in as good a shape as I and the other trainers are, but I do expect you to push yourselves. We won't be making it through this if you don't. Any other questions?" No response. "Good. One more thing, then." She turned towards Tamara, who happened to be a nurse; she'd been employed at Goldenrod Medical Center.

"Tamara," Kiera said, "I need you to be especially careful. I'm pairing you up with Eva. Eva, you take care of her. We do not want anything to happen to her. All right, then. That's that. Do whatever you need to do before we get underway, but don't take too long. We're moving in twenty minutes."

"Okay," Kiera said, "let's get moving. Seth, you're up front with me. Lyrica, you bring up the rear. Eva, I want you and Tamara to stay in the middle. Alicia, you're between me and Eva, and Daniel, you're between Eva and Lyrica. Let's move."

* * *

"They're not up to this," Seth said as he and Kiera led the group on. "We can handle this kind of thing, but most of the others aren't in the same kind of shape."

"They'll have to deal with it. We don't have much of a choice; the enemy'll find us if we don't take the hard route. It's going to be hard on them, yes, but it's better than the alternative."

"I'm more worried about them hindering the group."

"I'm not leaving anyone behind just because they can't keep up with us. At the same time, though, I'm not going to let anyone slow us down too much. I'm going to make them push themselves, but not beyond what they truly can do. Beyond what they want to do, certainly; in some cases, probably beyond what they think they can do. But not beyond what they actually can do."

"I know. I'm just worried about it."

"Understandable," Kiera said. "There's a lot to be worried about. Just make sure you give this everything you've got. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Good, because-gah!"

Michelle fell into Kiera, taking them both to the ground. "Oh, now what?" Kiera said as she picked herself up.

"Sorry,"' Michelle said as she got to her feet. "I just tripped."

"Then watch your step. Oh, and don't be so close behind me that you'll take me down with you, all right?"

"Fine," Michelle said, falling back towards the middle of the group.

"What was that about?" Seth wondered as they started moving again.

"Well, I suppose it's possible that she actually did trip, but I'd say she wanted to do… well, something to me. I've had to deal with her several times now, and she doesn't like that. I think she was trying to strike back somehow."

"Seems childish."

"Fits Michelle."

"True. But this does bring up a good question, though. What do you plan to do if one of us can't continue?"

"If we can take the person with us in any way at all," Kiera said, "we'll do so. If the problem can be solved within a reasonable period of time, we'll do that. But if there's absolutely no way to bring a person with us any farther, well, we don't bring them any farther."

"We abandon them, you mean."

"We wouldn't have a choice. If you don't like it, you're welcome to stay behind yourself."

"Actually, I'm pleasantly surprised. Not many people would be willing to do something like that. Hindrances should be eliminated."

_Um…_ "We're not 'eliminating' anybody. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah."

_I do not like the sound of that,_ Kiera thought. _I hope he doesn't become a problem. We've got enough of those as it is._

As the group continued on, Kiera wondered again how they could possibly manage to survive.


	6. Chapter 6: Mountain Crossing

**Chapter 6  
**_Mountain Crossing_

****Lyrica moved quickly and quietly, with Seth following behind her. The two of them were on a scouting run ahead of the main group. They'd been in the mountains for several days now, and Kiera was ordering scouting runs quite frequently. Which made sense, and not just because of the danger of running into hostile Pokemon. Navigating through a mountain range was tricky. Hiking trails were safe enough, but hiking trails didn't lead through the entire range. They didn't have any knowledge of what was up ahead, which Kiera needed if she was going to lead the group through. Thus, the scouting runs.

"Okay," Seth said, "this looks good. Lyrica?"

"'Good' is not a word I'd apply to anything about our situation," Lyrica said, "but yes, this should work. Let's get back to the group."

* * *

"What do you think we should do if someone can't keep up with the rest of us?" Seth asked as the two of them started back.

"Kiera's in charge; what I think doesn't matter. Why are you asking?"

"I'm trying to gauge our chances."

"Our chances are approximately bullshit," Lyrica said. "You know that, I hope."

"If we stay with the group."

"Okay," Lyrica said, "I think you need to tell me just what you're getting at."

"The group is a hindrance. You know that as well as I do. They can't keep up with us or the other trainers, so we're slowing down for them. Hindrances shouldn't be tolerated; they should be removed."

_I do not like where this is headed,_ Lyrica thought. "What would you do, then?"

"Is there any question? We leave them behind. Trying to keep them alive only hurts our own chances of living through this."

"So you'd rather we leave them to die."

"Of course. We can't keep them alive, and you know it. If we try, we're all dead. If we leave them, only they will die. A few survivors is better than none, I think you agree."

_I'll just let you think that, then._ "Yeah, but I don't think you're going to convince Kiera of that."

"I agree."

"So what, then? Are you going to go off on your own?"

"No," Seth said. "Being alone is an even worse idea. Staying as a group is a good idea; I'm just saying that there need to be some changes. In particular, anyone who falls behind needs to be left behind."

"Well, as I said, Kiera won't go for that."

"She's a hindrance herself. She needs to be dealt with. I'm talking to you about it because I might need some assistance."

"I struck you as the type who'd be willing to do that sort of thing, then?"

"You do, but I won't ask you to take action against Kiera. I'll handle that. Your part comes afterwards. I plan to have you lead the group after I deal with Kiera."

"That's… actually, yeah, that's a good idea."

"Then I can count on your cooperation, correct?"

Lyrica paused as if to think about it. "Yes. Yes, you can," she said eventually. _And by that I mean 'go fuck yourself'._

"Good," Seth said. "I haven't figured out how I'll deal with Kiera yet, so I'll let you know when I do."

* * *

_Okay, around this mountain,_ Kiera thought. _Choice time. And my opportunity to speak with Lyrica._ "Okay, everyone, stop for a break. Eva, Alicia, I need a scouting run up ahead. We need to choose a way around this mountain. You two scout to the left. Seth and Daniel, you take the right. I need to know what things look like in both directions. Get moving."

"Got it," Seth said as the two pairs got moving. Kiera wasn't worried about denying them rest. As trainers, they were in much better shape than most of the group, and didn't need breaks nearly as often. So she didn't have to worry about overexerting them if she had them do scouting runs during breaks sometimes.

Kiera waited until the scout pairs were gone, then called Lyrica over to her. She walked a little away from the group, so that they wouldn't be able to hear. "I have to tell you something," Kiera said softly.

"Probably not," Lyrica said. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be topping what you have to tell me. It's about Seth, right?"

"Right," Kiera said. "Something happened, I take it. But let's get the easy one out of the way first. You talked to them, right?"

Laresa nodded. "All four of our Pokemon-less members. Kate flat-out refused, while Abel and Semora were receptive, but both wanted to think about it. Serena, on the other hand, was very enthusiastic about it."

"We'll do her first, then. Anyways, on to Seth. I was just going to tell you to be careful, as he'd said a few things that made me… uncomfortable. I told Alicia, Daniel, and Eva while you two were scouting. But I guess you've already figured that much out."

"He… talked with me about something while we were scouting," Laresa said. "Specifically, he wants to... remove you from leadership of the group."

"Let me guess. He thinks my unwillingness to leave people behind hurts the chances of survival for the rest of us, so he wants to replace me."

"Almost," Laresa said. "He doesn't intend to replace you himself. He intends to replace you with me. That's why he told me all of this."

"Why you?"

"Because he thought I agreed with him. I told him I did, but, well, I lied."

"Why do you think he wants you to replace me instead of replacing me himself?"

"I didn't ask," Lyrica replied. "I would assume, however, that it has to do with retaining control of the group. First of all, although he may not like it, the group trusts you. And you've made it clear that you consider Eva and myself to take your place if doing so becomes necessary. It would probably be easier to get the group to follow me instead of him. There's also the possibility that whatever action he takes against you will be found out, either at the time of or later. Either way, it would pretty much eliminate any authority he'd have had. So he wants to have me replace you instead."

"Makes sense."

"What are you going to do? Kick him out of the group?"

"No," Kiera said after a pause. "I will if I have to, but I'm going to try something else first. We have few enough trainers as it is; I'm not getting rid of one unless there's no other choice."

"What are you going to do, then?"

* * *

Kiera thought for a moment after hearing the scout teams' reports. "All right," she said, "it sounds like the best route is around to the left. Everyone, get you stuff together. It's time to move. Seth, come here for a second."

Seth walked over to Kiera. "What is-"

Kiera kicked him in the groin.

"What the… fuck?" Seth got out a after a few moments.

"It's simple, really. I know you're planning to, let's say, dispose of me."

"What are… you… talking about?"

"All that stuff you told me," Laresa said. "I think you misjudged me a little bit."

"You… lying… bitch!"

"I'm willing to forgive her for it," Kiera said. "As for you, well, much like Michelle, you haven't actually done anything yet. So I'm not going to kick you out of the group. I won't stop you if you want to leave, though."

"But you don't want to do that, do you?" Lyrica said. "You may think Kiera's going to get us all killed, but you know you don't have any chance on your own."

Seth moved to grab one of his Pokeballs, only to find Lyrica's sword at his throat. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Go fuck yourself."

"Nah."

"Okay," Kiera said, "if you're staying with the group, then here's how it's going to be. I'm pairing you up with Lyrica. She'll be making sure you don't try anything."

"You," Seth said, "are far too lenient and accommodating."

"If you think you have a better chance on your own, you're welcome to leave." Silence. "That's what I thought. Right, then. Alicia, you're up front with me. Daniel, Eva, you two are in the back. Lyrica and Seth, you're in the middle. And I mean this, Seth: don't try anything. Okay, then. Everyone, we're moving now."

* * *

"Serena, come here," Kiera said.

"What's going on?" Serena asked as she walked over to Kiera.

"You remember what Lyrica spoke to you about?"

"Yes."

"Well, here's your chance."

"Awesome. What do I need to do?"

"Just hand me your ID card," Kiera said.

"My ID card? Are you going to convert it or something? I thought regular IDs were too different from trainer IDs for that; don't you have to get a new ID card when you register as a trainer?"

"I'm not registering you as a trainer," Kiera explained. "Besides, you didn't intend to become one right now, did you? Even most people who have Pokemon aren't trainers, you know. Getting a Pokemon ownership license on your ID card is simple, although we of course don't have that option here."

"So what are you doing?" Serena asked as she handed Kiera her ID card.

Kiera took out her Pokedex. She inserted her trainer's ID into a slot on it, then took Serena's and inserted it into a second slot. "You can't get a trainer's ID or even an ownership license until you're seventeen; you have to be a legal adult. But there are kids with Pokemon. So how does that work?"

"The parents are the owners, right?"

"Mostly," Kiera said, "but if the kid's going to keep it with him- or herself, you need to register that. What I'm doing, basically, is linking your ID to mine, which allows you to have your own Pokemon under my license. I'd be fine with just catching a Pokemon and handing it to you, but that would put me beyond the team-size limit, and although our current situation most certainly qualifies as enough of an emergency situation to get that limit suspended, there's no Pokemon Center around here for us to get it done at. However, what I'm doing will count any Pokemon I catch for you as separate from my team. That's the real reason I'm doing this." Kiera's Pokedex beeped. "Okay, that's set. Now for part two."

"Part two?"

Kiera removed a few Pokeballs from her pack and attached one to her Pokedex. "These balls are registered as mine," she said as she hit a button on her Pokedex. "You have to register them at the time of purchase." The Pokedex beeped again, and she replaced the ball attached to it with another. "What I'm doing is marking these balls as yours. Otherwise, the limit-of-six override would kick in as soon as one was used."

"You mean the auto-storage thing?"

"Normally," Kiera said, "but that requires an active receiver. All Pokemon Centers have them, and their range is large enough that the only way you'll be out of range is if you're in the middle of the ocean. The problem is that pretty much every Center in Johto and Kanto is down, so we're not within range of an active receiver. That's the situation in which the override kicks in."

"What's it do?"

"Basically, it turns a ball off as soon as you try to use it."

"Man, the League's serious about these regulations. Um, but should you be doing this with me? We're not related."

"There's no rule restricting this to that use," Kiera said. "It's perfectly fine for me to do it with you."

"What if I break regulations?"

"Legally, any infractions on your part while you're on my license are my responsibility. But I don't think that'll happen."

"Don't be so sure. I don't know all the rules."

"And in our situation, breaking them isn't really a concern. Okay, here you go." Kiera returned Serena's ID card and handed her the marked balls. "Now, moving on. Alicia?"

"Still there," Alicia replied.

"Good. Abel, Semora, let's link you two while we're at it. You don't have to catch anything if you decide you don't want to, but this will give you the option. Kate, we'll do you as well. I know you don't want a Pokemon, but we'll make the link just in case. Lyrica, you do Abel. Eva, you do Semora. Daniel, you do Kate. As for you, Serena, let's go get you your first catch."

* * *

Kiera's Sceptile weakened the Graveller. When Kiera told her to, Serena threw a ball and successfully caught it. The two of them then returned to the group. "All right," Kiera said, "Let's move. Same formation as before. Let's go."

"She did it, then," Alicia said as the group starting moving.

"She did," Kiera said. "A newly-caught Pokemon won't be able to do too much, but it's better than nothing."

"And you're sure it won't attack her?"

"It's wild. It's not one of the enemy."

"I see."

Alicia looked like she was about to say something else, but she was cut off by a noise from behind. By the time Kiera turned around, Lyrica had Seth on the ground. "Shit!" Seth exclaimed. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Don't play dumb," Lyrica said. "You were told not to try anything."

"I wasn't 'trying anything'!"

"It looked like you might be."

"It _looked like_ I _might_ be?" Seth got to his feet. "What the hell kind of reason is that?"

"You may have acted a little too quickly there, Lyrica," Kiera said. "He may very well not have been trying anything. But Seth, I think you know very well why she might be a little… overly cautious, shall we say. So although I'll ask her to try not to strike quite so quickly, I think I agree with her that it's better to act too soon than too late. But yes, Lyrica, do try not to strike quite so quickly."

"Fine," Lyrica said. Of course, she knew more than Seth did about what had just happened. Kiera had planned it out with her. She'd felt that it would help drive the message home if Seth had a little demonstration, so she'd told Lyrica to wait for the right moment and, when it came, take him down as she'd do if he did try something.

"Good," Kiera said. "Now come on, let's go."


	7. Chapter 7: Olivine

**Chapter 7  
**_Olivine_

It had taken weeks, but they had made it through the mountains. Well, not quite; at the moment, they were still within the range. They were at the edge, though.

Kiera and Eva looked down on the city below them. "You know," Eva said, "now that we've made it this far, this doesn't seem nearly as crazy as it did back in Goldenrod."

"I hope it does still seem crazy, though," Kiera said.

"Of course. Just not as crazy. Plus, we've made it this far without a single death. That's a very real confidence-booster."

"We've only finished the easy part. The real danger is still ahead."

"I know."

"Good. Come on, let's get back to the others."

* * *

Kiera and Eva made their way to the group's location, farther back in the mountains. "Okay, people," Kiera said, "listen up. And I mean it. This is important." Once she was sure she had everyone's attention, she continued. "All right. First, the good news: we've made it through the mountains. Olivine's just past this last one here. Which brings us to the bad news.

"We've had a few scrapes, but overall, our journey's been fairly easy. That ends here. When we leave these mountains and head for Olivine, we'll be in more danger than we were even in Goldenrod. You can bet the enemy's got sentries. When we approach the city, we'll be seen, and shortly afterwards, attacked. Once we enter Olivine, we can expect to be in a constant fight. And realize this: going in is a point of no return, because if we retreat, then no matter what we do or where we go, they will hunt us, find us, and kill us."

"Oh, come on," Michelle said. "They didn't pursue us like that after we got out of Goldenrod."

"Because as far as they were concerned, we were just running. And even if we had enough supplies to last a while, where would we go? We'd lose eventually, and they know it. So they weren't worried. But if we pull out after heading into a city, they'll know that we're not just running, but surviving. And even if we stay up here in safety, we will run out of supplies eventually. And then we'll have to make a run into a city, which would give us the same problem. That's why we can't just hide out until help arrives; once the enemy has a sign that we are, they'll be on us with everything they have. If anyone would prefer to give that a try anyways, that's your choice. Anyone who wants to back out, this is your last chance, because once we enter Olivine, there won't be that option.

"Now, we won't be going in today. We'll stay here for now and move in tomorrow. We'll be getting up very early, so be ready for that. I intend to time it so that we move as the nocturnals are going to sleep and the others are waking up. With any luck, this'll slow their reaction a little bit. That won't buy us a lot of time, but any is valuable.

"I'll be working out the details during the rest of the day, but here's the basic plan. We'll move out of the mountains as covertly as we possibly can. Once we're on terrain that's a little flatter, we'll split up, because there's some prep work to do. With a big group to attract the enemy's attention, a couple of smaller groups should be able to enter the city pretty much unnoticed, and thus should be able to move without much opposition. So our small groups should be able to move much more quickly. And no, we can't just split into several small groups; that'll remove the attention-grabbing effect and leave the enemy free to find all of us. Anyways, one group will move for the harbor as quickly as possible. This group will find and prepare a ship so that when the main group arrives, we'll be able to leave immediately.

"The second group will be on a supply run. We can expect to be at sea for quite some time, and we don't have enough supplies for that. So group two will find a store and load up. Try to find a big-box store; you know, some place where you can find trainer gear in addition to food. Either that, or grab a bunch of packs from a trainer's mart before heading in to the grocery store. Use Pokemon to help you carry as many packs as you possibly can. Also, if you do hit a big-box store, maybe grab some games or something if you've got the room; we'll be stuck on the ship for quite some time, and we'll want some diversions.

"I'll assign group members later, but the group leaders will, of course, be me, Eva, and Lyrica. All the other trainers I'll leave with the main group; that's where the fighting'll be. I'll expect everyone to do as much as they can, because this'll likely make Goldenrod look like nothing.

"We'll be using the rest of the day to prepare. Lyrica, I'll be putting you in charge of the big group. Eva and I will be sneaking around; you'll be leading a direct charge through the enemy. I figure that's a better spot to put you in. I want you to get with Seth, Daniel, and Alicia. You four will be the ones primarily responsible for keeping everyone else alive, so make some plans and stuff. You know, to figure out just how you'll do it. Eva, you and I are going to do a scouting run. I want a path out of the mountains planned out before we move, so that's what we'll be doing.

"I'm going to repeat myself: once we move, there will be no turning back. If you want to back out, you've got until we move tomorrow morning to do so. I won't stop you if that's your choice, but I will say that I think your chances of survival will be less. But it's your choice. If that's what you choose, please inform me. When it's time to move, I'll be assuming that everyone who hasn't said anything is coming with me.

"Okay, then. I think that's enough talking. Eva, let's go."

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful, and that night was the same way. Then it was morning. Well, technically.

"I told you we'd be moving early," Kiera said.

"Yeah," Jeremy said, "but I didn't think you meant so early that it's indistinguishable from the middle of the night."

"Remember that the idea is to move in towards Olivine at the time of the enemy's 'changing of the guard'. That means we need to be out of the mountains by then. Okay, people, listen up!" she said to the group as a whole. "Repack your sleeping bags, but we're leaving the tents here; we won't be needing them anymore. Get something to eat if you want to, but do it quickly. We're moving in fifteen minutes."

As everyone started moving, Kiera took Seth aside. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Let me guess," Seth said, "you're concerned that I might leave the rest of the group an run for the port without them."

"Yes."

"Make no mistake," Seth said. "If I thought it would boost my chances, I'd do it. But given the kind of fight this is likely to be, if I separate from the group, I'm as good as dead."

"Glad you realize that."

"I'm going to make it out of here alive," Seth said. "I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to do whatever I must. Understand that. Even if there weren't other concerns, I'd do whatever I had to."

"Other concerns?"

"My wife is in Lilycove," Seth said. "With our unborn daughter."

"Oh. I see. Well, know that that does not excuse trying to leave people behind. It may explain it, but it does not excuse it."

"I don't care."

"And as long as you do what I tell you to, neither do I. And it seems you realize that leaving the group now would be stupid."

"I'll stay with the group," Seth said.

"Good."

* * *

"All right," Kiera said as the group exited the mountains, "this is it. Kate, Michelle, and Semora, you're with me. We're the dock team; we need to make sure we've got a ship ready by the time Lyrica makes it. Abel, Serena, and Nelson, you're with Eva on the supply run. Get as much as you can, then get to the port. Everyone else is with Lyrica.

"Okay, people, this is the point of no return. Once we're in, we're committed. Any last changes of mind?" Silence. "Good. All right, people. This is it. Let's do it."

* * *

"It's not here," Kate said.

"Figures," Kiera replied. "We'll just have to pick another one."

Kiera's team had made it to the port without incident. Unfortunately, Kate's yacht wasn't among the remaining intact vessels. _Which means we'll have to take our chances with another._

"We'll try the closest one here," Kiera said, indicating another private vessel.

Kiera led her team onboard the ship and quickly located the… _Is it still called the helm on a ship like this one? Well, what the hell, the name'll suffice regardless. _"Can you pilot this one?" she asked Kate.

"I… yes," Kate said. "I can pilot it. The navigation equipment's a bit below what I've used, though."

"Can you get us to Lilycove?"

"Probably not; over this kind of distance, even the most minor variations can throw you off significantly, and relatively speaking, a city's a fairly small target. Hoenn as a whole is a different story, though. I can get us to Hoenn; I don't know exactly where in Hoenn we'll end up, but we'll make it to Hoenn."

"You're certain you can do it?"

Kate nodded. "I can do it."

"Then that'll have to be good enough; we don't have time to check every ship for one with better equipment. Which one of these is the fuel level?"

"That one. We're full; they usually take care of that right after you make port. And let me see… yes, we'll have more than enough. Apparently, whoever originally owned this went for a larger fuel capacity. That's one advantage this ship has over mine; we won't need to worry about refueling."

"That's good. Okay, get this thing ready to go. We'll be departing as soon as the others get here."

* * *

"Damn it!" Lyrica exclaimed as Jack Liener's now-headless body fell to the ground. Her Garchomp took out the Scyther responsible, but that didn't change the fact that Liener was dead. _That makes three. At least we're getting close._ "Alicia, I need a report!"

Alicia removed a flare from her pack and set it off. Moments later, her Honchkrow landed next to her. It soon took off again, and Alicia turned to Lyrica. "They're trying to cut us off. They've definitely figured out where we're going; they've got a force moving on the docks. Actually, they're moving in from two directions, although there's one small bit of good news, that being that their coordination is off and one will get there before the other. They won't know where Kiera is, I don't think, but they'll position themselves to block us. And at this rate, they'll get there with plenty of time to spare. And, of course, that group'll certainly be able to slow us down enough for the other group to make it. At which point we're pretty much screwed."

"Then we need to move faster. Change of plans, people! We've just run out of time! Adopt the riding formation we planned out and move!"

Calling for the riding formation, Lyrica knew, was a fairly desperate move. Sure, it allowed the group to move faster, but it also made the group much harder to defend, and they'd likely suffer more casualties riding to the docks than they would otherwise. Except that if they didn't move fast, the situation would get even worse. So the riding formation was a necessary risk. _Let's just hope we get there in time._

* * *

Eva's team made it to the docks without incident, and Kiera signaled them over to the correct ship. "We made it," Eva said as her group set down all the packs they had, "but I think we may have a problem."

"They're converging on this location, then." Kiera said. "I've been expecting that. It was only a matter of time before they figured out where the group was headed. Or until they found us, although I find that one less likely."

"I don't think they've located you yet," Eva said, "but they've figured out that Lyrica's heading here to the port, and they're moving to intercept her. I've had Nelson using his Pokemon-Noctowl and Staravia, in case you forgot-to scout, and although he can't understand them as well as most trainers can understand theirs, what he could understand was enough."

"What's the situation?"

"Two separate enemy forces are converging on this location. The one bit of good news is that they won't arrive simultaneously; one will make it well before the other. And neither force is likely to stop Lyrica on its own."

"But she'll be slowed."

"Yes. Enough for the other force to catch up. And yes, the first force will make it well before she does."

"What are we supposed to do?" Abel asked.

"Lyrica'll know," Kiera said. "She'll have her own aerial scouts up. She'll switch to a riding formation and move in as quickly as she can."

"It'll still be close," Nelson said.

"We'll just have to hope she gets here in time."

"And if she doesn't?" Semora asked.

"Then we engage at the same time she does, and we get them through.

* * *

"I see Lyrica," Eva said.

"Just barely too late," Kiera said. "And she knows it; they've already ditched the riding formation. Okay, she's going to push through as hard as she can. And they know it; look at their formation. They're ready to block her push. Eva, go. Hit their formation in the rear and help Lyrica punch a hole through it."

"And you?"

"We can't leave the ship unprotected," Kiera said. She removed several flares from her pack. "Especially not when I'm about to signal our location for Lyrica. Lyrica will still be their main focus, of course, but you can be sure that at least a few of them will be coming this way. I'll handle them; you just get Lyrica through."

"Got it," Eva said. She leapt onto the dock and charged the enemy, releasing her team (minus Latias) as she did so. At the same time, Kiera set off the flares.

* * *

"That one!" Alicia exclaimed.

"I see it," Lyrica said. "Let's just hope they've got some help coming. Alicia, you have the rear! Daniel, split your team between the sides! Seth, you and I need to focus everything forward! We're pushing straight through! Everyone else, keep your Pokemon near you at all times; you'll want the protection as we run through! And keep moving! Okay, let's do this! Charge!"

* * *

The first strike had been completely unexpected, but now at least some of the enemy knew that Eva and her team were there. They weren't adapting well, though, and most continued the charge against Lyrica, who was meeting them head-on.

Eva stepped around a Scyther that Flareon had just taken out, moving in alongside her team. As more of the enemy noticed her presence, their charge against Lyrica became less organized. Which Lyrica took full advantage of.

* * *

"Nelson, report!" Kiera said as she creamed a Vulpix with her pole.

"We're almost out of time," Nelson said. "They'll be coming in from over there shortly."

"Damn," Kiera said as her team cleared out the last of the ship's current attackers. "Abel, tell Kate to have this thing on and ready to move the moment I give the order."

As Abel complied, Kiera turned back towards the main fight. _They've met up. Good. Come on, you two, hurry!_

* * *

"Nice timing, Eva!" Lyrica said. "We've got trouble. They've cut the group in half. I need help breaking through. Seth, you get everyone else over here to the ship! Go!"

* * *

Seth reached the ship at the exact moment the second force came into view. "Seth, report!" Kiera said.

"They split our group. Lyrica told me to get these people on board. She and Eva are making a move for the others."

And something was indeed happening, Kiera saw.

* * *

"Okay, everyone," Lyrica said, "we've got an opening! Move it! Follow me through!"

Lyrica's team took the lead, but the enemy massed in front of them. And Lyrica knew the second force was about to join the fight. _No time._ "Eva, get your team up front! Everyone, go! Go! Go!"

* * *

"They're coming for us," Seth observed.

And they were. A large portion of the second force had broken off and was heading for the ship.

* * *

"They're through!" Semora said.

Kiera turned to look. _They are. Good. No, wait._ "Not all of them." Lyrica and Eva had gotten through, along with a couple others, but the enemy had regrouped and cut the rest off. And then the incoming detachment arrived."

"Eva, Lyrica," Kiera said as they and the two with them made it on board, "get in there and help my team and Seth's finish clearing out the ship!"

Lyrica ran in with her team, but Eva just ordered hers in, then moved over to Kiera and Seth. "What do we do now?"

"We've got trouble," Seth said. "The entire second force is changing targets. They're coming for us."

And they were. Obviously, they felt that the first force could handle their remaining opponents on their own. _And they're probably right. But if we try to help them, the second force will reach us. And we don't have enough left to stop it. If they reach us, we're dead, but…_

_I don't have a choice, do I?_

* * *

Kate was waiting at the helm when Kiera ran in. "Kate, go!"

"Going!" Kate said. She… _I don't know the right terms, do I?_ Kiera thought. _I don't think 'full throttle' is correct, but whatever._

"Hold on!" Kate said. "This might get rough!"

The harbor was full of debris. Kate navigated through safely, but she was right; it did indeed get rough. But then they were through.

* * *

Kiera'd had three others with her, as had Eva. The eight of them had all made it to the ship, leaving twelve with Lyrica. Seth had brought two of them through, and Lyrica and Eva another two. Of the other eight, four had died during the run, and the other four had been left behind. And the attack on the ship had claimed lives as well.

Kiera, Eva, Lyrica, Seth, Kate, Michelle, Nelson-_Jack; no more potential for confusion there_-Semora, and Darren. _Only nine,_ Kiera thought as she looked out at the city behind them. _Only nine of us got out. And four of them-_

Lyrica stepped up beside her. "We couldn't have lasted any longer," she said, guessing what Kiera was thinking about. "You made the right choice."

"No. I made the correct choice, but the right choice? There was no right choice."

"So, what, are you going to go all guilt trip now? Blame yourself for their deaths?"

"Of course not. I'm not an idiot. Their deaths weren't my fault. I did everything I could. Their deaths were our enemies' fault."

"So some crazy revenge plan, then?"

"I told you I'm not an idiot. I'm not planning some pointless suicide mission. But if I find something I can do, then yes, I will do it." She turned away from the view. "But right now, my job is to keep the rest of us alive until this ship reaches Lilycove."

"You think Kate'll actually manage to get us to Lilycove? Because I agree with her assessment."

"I think Kate can get us to Hoenn, but I'm not expecting her to get us to Lilycove. Where's Michelle?"

* * *

Michelle was in the room she'd claimed for herself. There weren't enough rooms for everybody, which Kiera had thought might be a cause for conflict, but it wasn't. Everyone had worked out arrangements on their own, either sharing a room or switching between having the room and bringing out the sleeping bag. Although there probably was some resentment over Michelle's refusal to share in any way, it wasn't a big deal, and after what they'd been through, nobody was in the mood to fight her about it.

Michelle looked up at Kiera as she entered the room. "There you are, Michelle," Kiera said.

"What is it?"

"I want you up at the helm. Take over for Kate. You actually can get us to Lilycove, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Good. I'll also want you to teach a couple others at least enough to keep us on course, so that we can alternate shifts at the helm. Start with Kate, since she already knows more than the rest of us."

"Hold on," Michelle said, getting to her feet. "You've done nothing but disrespect me from the start! Give me one good reason why I should help you-"

_With pleasure._ Kiera grabbed Michelle by the shirt collar and dragged her up to the deck. "I don't want any more shit from you," she said, shoving Michelle against the railing.

"H-hey! What the hell are you doing?"

"You've been nothing but a hindrance. All you've done is complain. And try to take control yourself a time or two. Well, guess what? You're lucky to have gotten out alive, but you know what? If you're going to be such an ungrateful bitch, then you didn't deserve to survive, not over any of the ones who died."

"Excuse me? Just what is that supposed to mean?"

Kiera pressed her up against the railing, staring her straight in the eyes. "It means that if you don't pilot this ship, then I will _throw you off of it! _Understand? Now get your worthless ass to the helm. And Michelle? I don't think you want to cause any more trouble. Because if you do, you're not going to like the results."

* * *

"I think you've earned Michelle's lifelong hatred," Eva remarked. She and Kiera were going through the supplies, taking a detailed inventory of just what all they had.

"I don't care. She's lucky I didn't leave her behind back in Goldenrod."

"She is fairly… hard to put up with sometimes," Eva said. Then she laughed. "You know, that guy on the radio we spoke to back in Goldenrod is in for a surprise, isn't he? He didn't think we'd live through this."

"Don't assume we're safe yet," Kiera said. "But yes, at this point I think we'll probably be okay."

"You did a good job, Kiera. I know you didn't want to be the one in charge, but you did a good job. I don't think I could've gotten any of us out. So, Kiera?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

**

* * *

**

End

**Author's note: Short story, I know. I originally had a lot more content planned, but with the tone the story ended up taking, I didn't think it really fit. So I decided to just end it before any of that. If, however, there's enough interest, you might be seeing a sequel at some point. So if you'd be interested in a sequel, let me know. And thank you for reading.**


End file.
